International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 03 | Mar 2019
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
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Towards creating an Ideal Neighbourhood
Hiba Shaikh1, Shubham Mahalle2 , Shubham Sahu3
1,2,3
MBA final year students of Management, Department of Project and Construction Management, MIT College of
Management, MIT Art, Design and Technology University, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
hibahshaikh20@gmail.com 1, shubham.mahalle9@gmail.com 2, shubhamsahu007@gmail.com 3
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Abstract – With joint families becoming a family type of the
This concept was also described as sub – divisions of urban
or rural settlements in a neighbourhood created in and
around the vicinity in which people live.
past and the rise in the number of nuclear families, creating
and friendly and socially dynamic neighbourhood is indeed an
important issue to be addressed to. It is an essential factor to
be considered by planners while designing a neighbourhood or
collective housing schemes.
Neighbourhood planning is quickly becoming a high priority
for the city planning departments, and even human service
providers. Neighbourhood planning is effective and inspires
creative strategies that can increase the possibility of the
residents to create a better environment for a shared future.
An early diagrammatic planning model for residential
development in metropolitan areas was developed by
Clarence Perry as an experimental test of the theoretical
concept formed.
Key Words: Neighbourhood, Urban, Rural Settlement
1. INTRODUCTION
While the Cambridge dictionary defines neighbourhood as
the area of a town that surrounds someone's home, or the
people who live in this area, the Oxford dictionary defines it
as a district or community within a town or city.
A neighbourhood could be seen as a geographically specific
area catering to all the functional and spatial needs of the
people residing in and around the vicinity.
The ‘neighborhood unit’ as a planning concept came into
existence in response to the downfall of the environmental
and social conditions created as a consequential outcome
of the famous industrial revolution in the early 1900s.
Figure 1 A diagram of Clarence Perry's
neighbourhood unit
One of the earliest authors to attempt a definition of the
‘neighborhood unit’ in fairly specific terms was Clarence
Arthur Perry (1872-1944), a New York planner.
The neighbourhood housing concept was conceived of as a
comprehensive physical planning tool, to be used to design
self- contained residential neighbourhoods, which would
promote a community centric lifestyle, away from the "noise
of the trains, and out of sight of the smoke and ugliness of
industrial plants" emblematic of an industrializing New York
City in the early 1900s.
2. Neighbourhood Housing Unit
This concept was designed by Clarence Perry to act as a
framework for the urban planners who as in the process of
attempting to design functionally self-contained, selfsustaining and desirable neighbourhoods in the early 20th
century in industrialising cities.
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2.1
International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 03 | Mar 2019
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
www.irjet.net
Principles of the Neighbourhood Unit
This will help keep the neighbourhood more pedestrian
friendly and keep away the unwanted traffic congestions
within.
The core principles of Perry's Neighbourhood Unit were
around these following design ideals :
 Design internal streets
 Centre all community spaces
Using a hierarchy that easily distinguishes local streets
from arterial streets and using curvilinear street design
can benefit both the safety and aesthetic purposes of the
streets in the neighbourhood. Streets, by design, would
discourage unwanted through traffic and enhance the
safety of pedestrians.
Centre all community spaces, especially schools in the
neighbourhood, so that a child's walk to school is not
more than :
¼ of a mile for elementary school kids
½ mile for a middle school kids
2 miles for high school students.
All should be achieved without crossing a major arterial
street.
 Restrict local shopping areas to the perimeter
 Place arterial streets along the perimeter
Keeping the shopping commercial areas to the perimeter
or to the main entrance of the neighbourhood enables the
exclusion of non-local traffic destined for these
commercial uses that might intrude on the neighbourhood
thus creating an unfriendly and unsafe neighbourhood.
In order to define and distinguish a "place" of the
neighborhood by design, eliminate unwanted throughtraffic from the neighborhood by placing all major and
minor arterial roads on the periphery of the
neighbourhood.
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Volume: 06 Issue: 03 | Mar 2019
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
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2.2
 Dedicate at least 10 per cent of the
neighbourhood land area to parks and open
space
Elements of the Neighbourhood Unit
1. Size : The town is divided into self-contained units or
sectors of population. This is further divided into smaller
units called neighbourhood.
2. Boundaries : The unit should be bounded on all its sides
by main road, enough for traffic.
3. Protective Strips: These are necessary to protect the
neighbourhood from traffic and to provide suitable facilities
for developing parks, playgrounds, and road widening
scheme in future. These are called Minor Green Belts.
4. Internal Streets: The internal streets are designed to
ensure safety to the people school going children in
particular. The internal streets should circulate throughout
the unit with easy shops and community centres.
This will help in creating sufficient places for play and
community interaction for the neighbourhood thus
increasing community socialization and community growth
as a whole.
5. Layout of Buildings : To encourage neighbourhood
relation and secure social stability and balance. The houses
to suit the different income group should be provided single
family houses, double family houses, cottages , flats, etc.
The principles are simply based on the fact that one is
planning for society and not for an aggregate of houses. The
neighbours are not dependent on one another’s company
and aid because the city life gives a wide field of
acquaintance and entertainment in various forms. The
neighbours may not have common modes and habits of
living and thus may sometimes not like to engage with a
certain kind of people’s group.
6. Shopping Centres : Each shop should be located on the
circumference of the unit, preferably at traffic junctions and
adjacent to the neighbourhood units.
7. Community Centres : Each community will have its
centre with social, cultural and recreational amenities.
8. Facilities : All public facilities required for the family for
their comfort and convenience should be within easy reach.
These include the primary school, temple, club, retail shop,
sport. These should be located within 1km in the central
place so as to nucleus to develop social life of the unit.
Hence, the neighbourhood planning is an attempt to form
various physical units of residential areas in which people
belonging to a particular rank of life settle or stay and
through their commonalities they come together to form like
a big, happy family though not directly related.
3.
The entire planning process is done for the following various
reasons :

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CONCLUSIONS
Neighbourhoods form the urban tissue of the city both
physically and socially. The concept of the neighborhood is
well established as a basic unit of planning the cities.
Further, it is a popular and accepted element of social and
physical organization in the minds of most people. Hence
the neighborhood has become the symbol and the means
to preserve the socio-cultural values of an earlier less
harried way of life in our increasingly complex and fast
moving urban centers. This also causes enhancement in
the social-cultural bonds that would result as a direct
outcome of improvement in physical conditions of a
neighborhood.
To make the people socialize with one and another.
To enable the inhabitants to share the public
amenities and recreational facilities.
To support a safe and healthy environment within
the neighbourhood.
To provide safety and efficiency to road users and
pedestrians.
To maintain, enhance, and improve area for
recreational activities.
To determine community’s prospects for the future.
This intention of a town planner to rejuvenate the valuable
idea of neighbourhood which have been lost in busy
uncontrolled city life has been able to take shape through the
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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 03 | Mar 2019
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
www.irjet.net
BIOGRAPHIES
neighbourhood unit concept thus creating what we can call
an ideal neighbourhood for all.
REFERENCES
Miss Hiba Shaikh, Student of MBA
in Project and Construction
Management, MIT ADT University,
Pune.
1) Meenakshi (Neighbourhood Unit and its
Conceptualization in the Contemporary Urban
Context), Institue of Town Planners , Indian
Journal 8 – 3, July – September 2011, 81 – 87.
2) Berk, M.G. (2005) The Concept of Neighborhood
in Contemporary Residential Environments:An
Investigation of Occupants’ Perception, Online at
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/22481/
3) Chiara, J.D. (1982) Urban Planning and Design
Criteria, VNR Company, New York. pp. 558-561.
4) Gallion, A.B. and Eisner, S. (Eds.) (1984) The
Urban Pattern: City Planning and Design, CBS
Publishers, Delhi. pp. 223-226.
5) Horn, A. (2004) Reflections on the concept and
conceptualization of the urban neighborhood in
societies in transition: The case of Pretoria (South
Africa), Dela, Vol.21, pp. 329-340.
6) Shambharkar, R.M. (2008) The Neighborhood
Unit: Concept as an Urban Space,
ArchitectureTime, Space and People, October. pp.
30-34.
7) Whittick, A. (Ed.) (1974) Encyclopedia of Urban
Planning, McGraw-Hill Book Company, USA. pp.
714-715.
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Impact Factor value: 7.211
Mr. Shubham Mahalle, Student of
MBA in Project and Construction
Management, MIT ADT University,
Pune.
Mr. Shubham Sahu, Student of MBA
in Project and Construction
Management, MIT ADT University,
Pune.
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